Paleo
Excludes grains, legumes, dairy and refined foods. Carbohydrate intake is unrestricted from whole-food sources.
Food & fasting
Research records
Historical source snapshot. Not freshly verified, not a recommendation. Study findings, community accounts and app defaults are not interchangeable.
Publication suitability · 2026-10-15: Historical reference only; not a clinical verification. Clinical, regulatory, efficacy, safety and dose claims are not independently established by this review.
Paleo
Excludes grains, legumes, dairy and refined foods. Carbohydrate intake is unrestricted from whole-food sources.
Evidence category: Systematic review. This describes the source category, not approval or certainty.
Regulatory statement in source: Not separately recorded; do not infer approval from the evidence category.
A GRADE-assessed systematic review and meta-analysis pooled 19 randomised trials and 12 cohort studies of the Paleolithic diet. The trials showed modest improvements in fasting insulin, cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, body weight, BMI and diastolic blood pressure. The cohorts linked high adherence with about 10% lower all-cause and cancer mortality. An earlier meta-analysis of four small trials (98 people) found no difference from other healthy diets on glucose and insulin measures, and a StatPearls chapter gives background.
Benefits reported in the imported source
- A meta-analysis of 19 randomised trials found modest gains in insulin, lipids, weight and diastolic pressure.
- Pooled cohorts linked high adherence with about 10% lower all-cause and cancer mortality.
Risks and limits
- The cohort mortality link is observational, so cause and effect is not established.
- An earlier meta-analysis of four small trials found no edge over other healthy diets.
- Improvements in the trials were modest rather than large.
Source bottom line: Pooled trials show modest metabolic gains on a Paleolithic diet; earlier work found no edge over other diets.
Uncertainty: Reference information only. Not medical advice.
Study protocols — reports, not instructions
19 randomised trials and 12 prospective cohorts pooled in the review
- Reported regimen
- a Paleolithic diet against control diets in the trials; high versus low adherence to a Paleolithic pattern in the cohorts
- Duration
- not stated
- Reported outcome
- Trials showed lower fasting insulin, cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, weight, BMI and diastolic pressure; cohorts showed 10% lower all-cause and cancer mortality.
- Source
- The Paleolithic diet and chronic disease risk: a GRADE-assessed systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis (Bahrami et al. 2026)
Claim provenance
evidence.json#/catalog:food-protocol:paleo/protocols/0
98 subjects with altered glucose metabolism across 4 randomised trials
- Reported regimen
- a Paleolithic diet compared with a Mediterranean diet, a diabetes diet or a diet recommended by the Dutch Health Council
- Duration
- not stated
- Reported outcome
- No difference from the comparison diets on fasting glucose, fasting insulin, HbA1c, HOMA-IR, or glucose and insulin area under the curve.
- Source
- The Effect of the Paleolithic Diet vs. Healthy Diets on Glucose and Insulin Homeostasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Jamka et al. 2020)
Claim provenance
evidence.json#/catalog:food-protocol:paleo/protocols/1
Community and practice descriptions
Accounts of a practice are not evidence of safety or effectiveness. Words such as “standard”, “safe” or “recommended” describe the source account, not verified consensus or this wiki’s advice. Commercial and self-published citations are retained for traceability, not vendor endorsement or independent clinical corroboration.
Unverified imported account — The Paleo Diet: A Beginner's Guide Plus Recipe Ideas - Healthline
An imported authored paraphrase, not a quotation or a recommended protocol.
Review: unverified historical account. The imported wording is preserved for attribution; its full clinical, dosing, efficacy or consensus claims have not been independently established. Described practice context only; no clinical benefit or safety outcome is inferred.
Imported wording: A paleo diet guide describes a modern version built around unprocessed meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, generally leaving out legumes, dairy and grains; it also notes that some followers allow modern foods.
The Paleo Diet: A Beginner's Guide Plus Recipe Ideas - Healthline
Historical research outcome: verified-description · 2026-10-06
Rechecked the previously published description against live source content. The live guide lists the food groups in the description, identifies grains, dairy and legumes as restricted groups, and discusses flexible modern variants.
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/paleo-diet-meal-plan-and-menu: verified-description — The live guide lists the food groups in the description, identifies grains, dairy and legumes as restricted groups, and discusses flexible modern variants.
Pharmacokinetic context
No half-life recorded in this source snapshot. No value has been inferred.
Source references
- The Paleolithic diet and chronic disease risk: a GRADE-assessed systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis (Bahrami et al. 2026)
- The Effect of the Paleolithic Diet vs. Healthy Diets on Glucose and Insulin Homeostasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Jamka et al. 2020)
- Paleolithic Diet - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf (availability check 2026-10-15: possible access barrier; not independently inspected; HTTP 200)
- PubMed: paleolithic diet (availability check 2026-10-15: possible access barrier; not independently inspected; HTTP 200)
Snapshot provenance
Source ID: catalog:food-protocol:paleo. Commit: adc7684614f9439b41d91a3312b62e7982c7e20e. Review state: historical-not-reverified. Authored links are retained separately from the canonical evidence links in the public data. App templates/defaults and rejected drafts are archived, not deployed.
Related entries and components
None listed.